现代灰姑娘 英文版 A Modern Cinderella
露意莎.梅.奥尔科特 Louisa May Alcott
DEBBY'S DEBUT. Page 4
Christian advice Mr. Seguin slappedhis pupil on the shoulder, and disappeared.
"I'm glad he's gone, for in my present state ofmind he's not up to my mark at all. I'll try hisplan, though, and flirt with Clara West; she'sengaged, so it won't damage her affections; herlover isn't here, so it won't disturb his; and, byJove! I must do something, for I can't stand thissuspense."
Debby was infinitely relieved by this new move,and infinitely amused as she guessed the motivethat prompted it; but the more contented sheseemed, the more violently Mr. Joe flirted with herrival, till at last weak-minded Miss Clara began tothink her absent George the most undesirable oflovers, and to mourn that she ever said "Yes"to a merchant's clerk, when she might have said itto a merchant's son. Aunt Pen watched and approvedthis stratagem, hoped for the best results,and believed the day won when Debby grew paleand silent, and followed with her eyes the youngcouple who were playing battledoor and shuttle-cockwith each other's hearts, as if she took someinterest in the game. But Aunt Pen clashedher cymbals too soon; for Debby's trouble had abetter source than jealousy, and in the silence ofthe sleepless nights that stole her bloom she wastaking counsel of her own full heart, and resolvingto serve another woman as she would herself beserved in a like peril, though etiquette was outragedand the customs of polite society turned upside down.
"Look, Aunt Pen! what lovely shells and mossI've got! Such a splendid scramble over the rocksas I've had with Mrs. Duncan's boys! It seemedso like home to run and sing with a troop oftopsy-turvy children that it did me good; and I wish youhad all been there to see." cried Debby, runninginto the drawing-room, one day, where Mrs. Carrolland a circle of ladies sat enjoying a dish ofhighly flavored scandal, as they exercised theireyesight over fancy-work.
"My dear Dora, spare my nerves; and if youhave any regard for the proprieties of life, don't goromping in the sun with a parcel of noisy boys. Ifyou could see what an object you are, I think youwould try to imitate Miss Clara, who is always amodel of elegant repose."
Miss West primmed up her lips, and settled afold in her ninth flounce, as Mrs. Carroll spoke,while the whole group fixed their eyes withdignified disapproval on the invader of their refinedsociety. Debby had come like a fresh wind intoa sultry room; but no one welcomed the healthfulvisitant, no one saw a pleasant picture in thebright-faced girl with windtossed hair and rustichat heaped with moss and many-tinted shells; theyonly saw that her gown was wet, her gloves forgotten,and her scarf trailing at her waist in a manner nowell-bred lady could approve. The sunshine faded outof Debby's face, and there was a touch of bitternessin her tone, as she glanced at the circle of fashion-plates,saying with an earnestness which caused Miss West toopen her pale eyes to their widest extent,--
"Aunt Pen, don't freeze me yet,--don't takeaway my faith in simple things, but let me be achild a little longer,--let me play and sing and keepmy spirit blithe among the dandelions and therobins while I can; for trouble comes soon enough,and all my life will be the richer and the better fora happy youth."
Mrs. Carroll had nothing at hand to offer inreply to this appeal, and four ladies dropped theirwork to stare; but Frank Evan looked in fromthe piazza, saying, as he beckoned like a boy,--
"I'll play with you, Miss Dora; come and makesand pies upon the shore. Please let her, Mrs.Carroll; we'll be very good, and not wet ourpinafores or feet."
Without waiting for permission, Debby pouredher treasures into the lap of a certain lame Freddy,and went away to a kind of play she had neverknown before. Quiet as a chidden child, shewalked beside her companion, who looked downat the little figure, longing to take it on his kneeand call the sunshine back again. That he darednot do; but accident, the lover's friend, performedthe work, and did him a good turn beside. Theold Frenchman was slowly approaching, when afrolicsome wind whisked off his hat and sent itskimming along the beach. In spite of her latelecture, away went Debby, and caught the truantchapeau just as a wave was hurrying up to claimit. This restored her cheerfulness, and when shereturned, she was herself again.
"A thousand thanks; but does Mademoiselleremember the forfeit I might demand to add to thefavor she has already done me?" asked the gallantold gentleman, as Debby took the hat offher own head, and presented it with a martialsalute.
"Ah, I had forgotten that; but you may claim(text missing in original copy)do something more to give you pleasure;" andDebby looked up into the withered face whichhad grown familiar to her, with kind eyes, fullof pity and respect.
followed with her eyes the youngcouple who were.
Her manner touched the old man very much;he bent his gray head before her, saying,gratefully,--
"My child, I am not good enough to salutethese blooming checks; but I shall pray the Virginto reward you for the compassion you bestow onthe poor exile, and I shall keep your memory verygreen through all my life."
He kissed her hand, as if it were a queen's,and went on his way, thinking of the little daughterwhose death left him childless in a foreign land.
Debby softly began to sing, "Oh, come untothe yellow sands! " but stopped in the middle ofa line, to say,--
"Shall I tell you why I did what Aunt Penwould call a very unladylike and improper thing,Mr. Evans? "
"If you will be so kind;" and her companionlooked delighted at the confidence about to bereposed in him.
"Somewhere across this great wide sea I hopeI have a brother," Debby said, with softened voiceand a wistful look into the dim horizon." Fiveyears ago he left us, and we have never heardfrom him since, except to know that he landedsafely in Australia. People tell us he is dead; butI believe he will yet come home; and so I love tohelp and pity any man who needs it, rich or poor,young or old, hoping that as I do by them sometender-hearted woman far away will do by BrotherWill."
As Debby spoke, across Frank Evan's facethere passed the look that seldom comes but onceto any young man's countenance; for suddenlythe moment dawned when love asserted its supremacy,and putting pride, doubt, and fear underneathits feet, ruled the strong heart royally and bent itto its will. Debby's thoughts had floated acrossthe sea; but they came swiftly back when hercompanion spoke again, steadily and slow, butwith a subtile change in tone and manner whicharrested them at once.
"Miss Dora, if you should meet a man whohad known a laborious youth, a solitary manhood,who had no sweet domestic ties to make homebeautiful and keep his nature warm, who longedmost ardently to be so blessed, and made it the aimof his life to grow more worthy the good gift,should it ever come,--if you should learn that youpossessed the power to make this fellow-creature'shappiness, could you find it in your gentle heartto take compassion on him for the love of 'BrotherWill'?"
Debby was silent, wondering why heart andnerves and brain were stirred by such a suddenthrill, why she dared not look up, and why, whenshe desired so much to speak, she could onlyanswer, in a voice that sounded strange to her ownears,--
"I cannot tell."
Still, steadily and slow, with strong emotiondeepening and softening his voice, the lover at herside went on,--
"Will you ask yourself this question in some quiethour? For such a man has lived in the sunshine ofyour presence for eight happy weeks, andnow, when his holiday is done, he finds that theold solitude will be more sorrowful than ever,unless he can discover whether his summer dreamwill change into a beautiful reality. Miss Dora,I have very little to offer you; a faithful heart tocherish you, a strong arm to work for you, anhonest name to give into your keeping,--these areall; but if they have any worth in your eyes, theyare most truly yours forever."
Debby was steadying her voice to reply, whena troop of bathers came shouting down the bank,and she took flight into her dressing-room, thereto sit staring at the wall, till the advent of AuntPen forced her to resume the business of the hourby assuming her aquatic attire and stealing shylydown into the surf.
Frank Evan, still pacing in the footprints theyhad lately made, watched the lithe figure trippingto and fro, and, as he looked, murmured to himselfthe last line of a ballad Debby sometimes sang,--
"Dance light! for my heart it lies under your feet, love!"
Presently a great wave swept Debby up, andstranded her very near him, much to her confusionand his satisfaction. Shaking the spray out of hereyes, she was hurrying away, when Frank said,--
"You will trip, Miss Dora; let me tie thesestrings for you;" and, suiting the action to theword, he knelt down and began to fasten the cordsof her bathing shoe.
Debby stood Looking down at the tall head bentbefore her, with a curious sense of wonder that alook from her could make a strong man flush andpale, as he had done; and she was trying to concoctsome friendly speech, when Frank, still fumblingat the knots, said, very earnestly and low,--
"Forgive me, if I am selfish in pressing for ananswer; but I must go to-morrow, and a singleword will change my whole future for the betteror the worse. Won't you speak it, Dora?"
If they had been alone, Debby would have puther arms about his neck, and said it with all herheart; but she had a presentiment that she shouldcry, if her love found vent; and here forty pairsof eyes were on them, and salt water seemedsuperfluous. Besides, Debby had not breathed the airof coquetry so long without a touch of the infection;and the love of power, that lies dormant inthe meekest woman's breast, suddenly awoke andtempted her.
"If you catch me before I reach that rock,perhaps I will say 'Yes,'" was her unexpectedanswer; and before her lover caught her meaning,she was floating leisurely away.
Frank was not in bathing-costume, and Debbynever dreamed that he would take her at herword; but she did not know the man she had todeal with; for, taking no second thought, he flunghat and coat away, and dashed into the sea. Thisgave a serious aspect to Debby's foolish jest. Afeeling of dismay seized her, when she saw aresolute face dividing the waves behind her, andthought of the rash challenge she had given; butshe had a spirit of her own, and had profited wellby Mr. Joe's instructions: so she drew a longbreath, and swam as if for life, instead of love.Evan was incumbered by his clothing, and Debbyhad much the start of him; but, like a secondLeander, he hoped to win his Hero, and, lendingevery muscle to the work, gained rapidly uponthe little hat which was his beacon through thefoam. Debby heard the deep breathing drawingnearer and nearer, as her pursuer's strong armscleft the water and sent it rippling past her lips,something like terror took possession of her; forthe strength seemed going out of her limbs, andthe rock appeared to recede before her; but theunconquerable blood of the Pilgrims was in herveins, and "Nil desperandum" her motto; so,setting her teeth, she muttered, defiantly,--
welcomed the healthfulvisitant, no one saw a pleasant picture?
"I'll not be beaten, if I go to the bottom!"
A great splashing arose, and when Evan recoveredthe use of his eyes, the pagoda-hat hadtaken a sudden turn, and seemed making for thefarthest point of the goal. "I am sure of hernow," thought Frank; and, like a gallant seagod,he bore down upon his prize, clutching it with ashout of triumph. But the hat was empty, and likea mocking echo came Debby's laugh, as sheclimbed, exhausted, to a cranny in the rock.
"A very neat thing, by Jove! Deuse take meif you a'n't 'an honor to your teacher, and a terrorto the foe,' Miss Wilder," cried Mr. Joe, as hecame up from a solitary cruise and dropped anchorat her side. "Here, bring along the hat, Evan;I'm going to crown the victor with apropriatewhat-d'ye-call-'ems," he continued, pulling a handfulof sea-weed that looked like well-boiled greens.
Frank came up, smiling; but his lips were white,and in his eye a look Debby could not meet; so,being full of remorse, she naturally assumed an airof gayety, and began to sing the merriest air sheknew, merely because she longed to throw herselfupon the stones and cry violently.
"It was 'most as exciting as a regatta, and youpulled well, Evan; but you had too much ballastaboard, and Miss Wilder ran up false colors justin time to save her ship. What was the wager?"asked the lively Joseph, complacently surveyinghis marine millinery, which would have scandalizeda fashionable mermaid.
"Only a trifle," answered Debby, knotting upher braids with a revengeful jerk.
"It's taken the wind out of your sails, I fancy,Evan, for you look immensely Byronic with thestarch minus in your collar and your hair in apoetic toss. Come, I'll try a race with you; andMiss Wilder will dance all the evening with thewinner. Bless the man, what's he doing downthere? Burying sunfish, hey?"
Frank had been sitting below them on a narrowstrip of sand, absently piling up a little moundthat bore some likeness to a grave. As hiscompanion spoke, he looked at it, and a sudden flushof feeling swept across his face, as he replied,--
"No, only a dead hope."
"Deuse take it, yes, a good many of that sortof craft founder in these waters, as I know to mysorrow;" and, sighing tragically. Mr. Joe turnedto help Debby from her perch, but she had glidedsilently into the sea, and was gone.
For the next four hours the poor girl sufferedthe sharpest pain she had ever known; for nowshe clearly saw the strait her folly had betrayedher into. Frank Evan was a proud man, andwould not ask her love again, believing she hadtacitly refused it; and how could she tell him thatshe had trifled with the heart she wholly loved andlonged to make her own? She could not confidein Aunt Pen, for that worldly lady would haveno sympathy to bestow. She longed for hermother; but there was no time to write, for Frankwas going on the morrow, --might even then begone; and as this fear came over her, she coveredup her face and wished that she were dead. PoorDebby! her last mistake was sadder than her first,and she was reaping a bitter harvest from her summer'ssowing. She sat and thought till her cheeksburned and her temples throbbed; but she darednot ease her pain with tears. The gong soundedlike a Judgment-Day trump of doom, and shetrembled at the idea of confronting many eyes withsuch a telltale face; but she could not stay behind,for Aunt Pen must know the cause. She tried toplay her hard part well; but wherever she looked,some fresh anxiety appeared, as if every fault andfolly of those months had blossomed suddenlywithin the hour. She saw Frank Evan moresombre and more solitary than when she met himfirst, and cried regretfully within herself, "Howcould I so forget the truth I owed him? -- Shesaw Clara West watching with eager eyes for thecoming of young Leavenworth, and sighed, -- "Thisis the fruit of my wicked vanity!" She saw AuntPen regarded her with an anxious face, and longedto say, "Forgive me, for I have not been sincere!"At last, as her trouble grew, she resolved to goaway and have a quiet "think,"--a remedy whichhad served her in many a lesser perplexity; so,stealing out, she went to a grove of cedars usuallydeserted at that hour. But in ten minutes JoeLeavenworth appeared at the door of the summerhouse, and, looking in, said, with a well-actedstart of pleasure and surprise,--
"Beg pardon, I thought there was no one here,My dear Miss Wilder, you look contemplative;but I fancy it wouldn't do to ask the subject ofyour meditations, would it?"
He paused with such an evident intention ofremaining that Debby resolved to make use of themoment, and ease her conscience of one care thatburdened it; therefore she answered his questionwith her usual directness,--
"My meditations were partly about you."
Mr. Joe was guilty of the weakness of blushingviolently and looking immensely gratified; buthis rapture was of short duration, for Debby wenton very earnestly,--
"I believe I am going to do what you mayconsider a very impertinent thing; but I wouldrather be unmannerly than unjust to others oruntrue to my own sense of right. Mr. Leavenworth,if you were an older man, I should not dare to saythis to you; but I have brothers of my own, and,remembering how many unkind things they do forwant of thought, I venture to remind you that awoman's heart is a perilous plaything, and too tenderto be used for a selfish purpose or an hour'spleasure. I know this kind of amusement is notconsidered wrong; but it is wrong, and I cannotshut my eyes to the fact, or sit silent while anotherwoman is allowed to deceive herself and woundthe heart that trusts her. Oh, if you love yourown sisters, be generous, be just, and do notdestroy that poor girl's happiness, but go awaybefore your sport becomes a bitter pain to her!"
Joe Leavenworth had stood staring at Debbywith a troubled countenance, feeling as if all themisdemeanors of his life were about to be paradedbefore him; but, as he listened to her plea, thewomanly spirit that prompted it appealed moreloudly than her words, and in his really generousheart he felt regret for what had never seemeda fault before. Shallow as he was, nature wasstronger than education, and he admired andaccepted what many a wiser, worldlier man wouldhave resented with anger or contempt. He lovedDebby with all his little might; he meant to tellher so, and graciously present his fortune andhimself for her acceptance; but now, when themoment came, the well-turned speech he had preparedvanished from his memory, and with thebetter eloquence of feeling he blundered out hispassion like a very boy.
"Miss Dora, I never meant to make trouble betweenClara and her lover; upon my soul, I didn't,and wish Seguin had not put the notion into myhead, since it has given you pain. I only tried topique you into showing some regret, when Ineglected you; but you didn't, and then I gotdesperate and didn't care what became of any one.Oh, Dora, if you knew how much I loved you, Iam sure you'd forgive it, and let me prove myrepentance by giving up everything that you dislike.I mean what I say; upon my life I do; and I'llkeep my word, if you will only let me hope."
If Debby had wanted a proof of her love forFrank Evan, she might have found it in the factthat she had words enough at her command now,and no difficulty in being sisterly pitiful towardher second suitor.